There has been a constant effort to improve the efficiency and practicality of boat anchors. A major advance in the art took place with the danforth anchor. The danforth anchor has flukes or blades pivoted in relation to the shank and may also include crown elements or plates positioned rigidly on the fluke structure. A recognized attribute with all pivoted fluke anchors and particularly those possessing crown elements is that the anchors are non-fouling in comparison to rigid traditional type anchors and much more easily retrievable when fouled on the bottom. The developement of loop or pocket shanks has also increased the retrievability of pivoted fluke anchors still further in the recent prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,318 discloses a pivoted fluke type anchor with a sliding shackle which enhances retrievability.
While these current anchor designs have been effective at improving retrievability of the anchor, they have been ineffective at quickly penetrating or setting in a hard pan bed condition. Current anchor designs can travel up to about two hundred yards before setting into a hard pan sand condition of the bed of a river, lake or ocean. This large distance needed to anchor the vessel may be unacceptable if the vessel is disabled or in other emergency situations. In addition, current anchors are susceptible to chine walking which is a severe condition that happens to high speed vessels that tip from side to side just before causing a turnover.